Wolf’s Wicked Words: How Often Do You Treat Your Gaming Hiccups?

I sat the other day in a waiting room as time trickled away much more slowly than it does when actually wanting more time in a day to get everything done and have some time to sit back and enjoy the embrace of a single player game providing attention to me and only me. In a concerted effort to let time fly by I decided to pick up and read a magazine. Edges of the magazine curled outwards. I sought one that would make for ideal reading material to numb the pain brought by the slowly ticking clock on the wall; I swear these the clocks in waiting rooms are set to tick slower, but as I looked upon my watch I realised that was sadly not the case. The magazine from 1996 would suffice as reading material, but I soon threw it back onto the table due to every second page falling to the floor as I searched for an article on much needed time travel. After expelling the umpteenth sigh of boredom, a series of hiccups arose and it seemed as if this backwards bodily function wasn’t going to let me go any time soon. As the hiccups continued the more people glared to my direction. Where is one of the many ineffective hiccup cures when you need them? The receptionist didn’t seem as if she was the kind that would help me find some sugar or a massive glass of water for me to down. I’m just going to have to sit this through and feel my lungs slowly creeping up and out of my cake socket.

I regularly find myself with gaming-related hiccups. What is a gaming hiccup? Well, I’m not going to be a pompous plebeian and say it is something I can up with myself. What I can say is that it isn’t what happens when your desired gaming platform occasionally freezes mid-game.

I like to think of a “gaming hiccup” as a continuous recurring feeling towards a game or indeed multiple games where you have a desire that can only be quenched once you’ve played said game that you have not played in a while – hence the kiloliter of water needed to cure one’s series of hiccups. Dota 2 comes to mind, but we’re not here today to talk about addiction.

I regularly have a hankering towards one of the Serious Sam games. I do not exactly know why my mind persists in persuing these mindless, albeit entertaining shooters. Well, fun seems to be the driving force there. I played Grim Fandango not too long ago thanks to this welcome backwards swallow, but with the tank-style movement controls I doubt fun was there the case, however, the game’s story is not one I will grow tired of. It probably tends towards one’s mood at the time, so I cannot claim to call it an exact science.

What’s bizarre is that I did not want to stop playing The Last of Us until I finished the game on Survivor Plus which meant multiple playthroughs and I did it without hesitation. One usually acquires your own series of hiccups mostly with periods of time in between, but The Last of Us and BioShock Infinite did not seem to fall under the traditional hiccup parameters. (However, in the case with BioShock Infinite it was pure drooling fanboyism. Damn, I need to go play it again now…)

With over 48 hours of research scouring the internet I found that short bouts of hiccups is not something to be alarmed about, so don’t be hesitant when you feel the need to play the original Deus Ex or Half Life for the 107th time.